Pianoforte- action



UNITED sTaTns PATENT cierren.

J. V. MARSHALL, OF ALBANY, NEW YORK.

i PIANOFORTE-ACTION.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 20,500, dated June 8, 1858.

To all 'whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN V. MARSHALL, of the city of Albany, State of New York, have invented a new and Improved Action for Pianofortes; and l declare the following specication, with the drawings hereto attached as part of the same, to be a full and perfect description thereof.

Figure l represents in profile an action of a piano-forte as at present constructed.

Fig. 2 my improved action. Fig. 3 the butt of Fig. l on an enlarged scale. Fig. 4: the butt of Fig. 2 on an enlarged scale.

Similar' letters in the different figures denote the same parts of the apparatus.

The object of my invention is to improve the action of piano-fortes by facilitating the repeat of notes, so as to make less fingering necessary to reproduce the same note with rapidity by my peculiar form of construction and application of important parts of the action which overcomes serious difficulties existing in other actions, rendering the piano-fortes in part or wholly useless.

By the present construction of the various actions now in use, the principle of which is shown in Fig. l, the hammer must be dropped down to its lowest position by relieving its key from the pressure of the finger', and again striking the key to repeat the note. Consequently a rapid repeat can be effected only by quick full strokes of the finger upon the key accompanied by the full movement of the working parts of the action, with the unavoidable wear and noise connected therewith. lThis is intended to be shown by Fig. l which represents one of the principal improved actions now in use.

A is the key, B the jack, with its base or socket O, D the flange, upon which is pivoted the butt E of the hammer H, J the rest and K the back check.

The colored parts show the key when held down, and the position of the action machinery at such time with the exception of the hammer H and butt E. The faintly shaded parts show the key when untouched and the corresponding position of the machinery with the exception of the hammer and butt. When in this lastcondition the upper end C of the jack B stands in the notch a (see Fig. 3) of the butt E the hammer lying upon Vthe rest J. Upon `the key being struck by the finger, the ack rises and propels the hammer smartly against the string FV, thus producing its musical tone. while at the same time the upper end C of the `iack passes out in front of the butt E as shown in Fig. l. The hammer instantly recoils and if the key be held down by the finger, the machinery takes the position shown by the colored parts, excepting the hammer which is kept up from its rest J by its back check 1 and lies as shown at 71., 7L. lVhen the key is released from the pressure of the finger the whole apparatus resumes its first position.

It will be seen from an inspection of the drawing that when the apparatus is in the position shown by the colored lines, the hammer lying at 72, 72., the jack having passed from under the butt no force upon the key will repeat the stroke of the hammer, nor can it be done until the jack is broughtagain into the notch a., and this can only be accomplished b v permitting` the back end of the key to drop down; that is. to raise the finger from the key; consequently to repeat the note will require a repetition of the full movement of the key and finger.

My improvement is shown in Figs. 2 and 4 where the colored parts of the drawing in Fig. 2. show the position of the action when the key is struck or held down.

The alterations consist: 1st. in materially changing the form of that part of the butt E acted on by the end C of the jack B. and introducing a stop t within the notch of the butt so that C instead of passing out in front of the but-t, when the key is struck shall be caught and retained against it, allowing the hammer but a slight drop, as shown by the colored parts of Fig. 2. 2d, in raising the axis of the hammer, in reference to the other proportions or relative position of the action, which by bringing the shank L of the hammer on a level with the axis of the hammer, will enable the back check K to follow the hammer in close proximity so that when the hammer is thrown against the string or wire lV by the key and rebounds it the check will catch and hold the hammer in the position shown by the colored parts of Fig. 2, holding it at Y so long as the key is held down. That then by permitting the back end of the key to fall a very small distance the check K will withdraw from the hammer and the upper end C of the jack B will again pass into the notch a, which will then be free on the stroke of the finger upon the key to throw the hammer against the string, and this movement can ben repeated as often, and as rapidly as desired without requiring the descent of the key to its rest before it can act upon the hammer. 3d, in attaching a light spring S (spiral or other) extending from the top of the butt obliquely forward. This not only gives an elastic action to the movement of the hammer, and prevents its dropping so rapidly to its rest J as to produce noise, but it so retards the falling of the hammer, while the key is falling freely, at the same time, that it insures the passing of the upper end C of the jack into the notch a with freedom, thus acting as an auxiliary to the back check.

The combined movement of the parts so arranged has the advantage of operating with much more certainty and less noise than by the old arrangement as described. rlhere the hammer and key drop together; and when it is considered that the performer on the piano-forte frequently strikes many keys at the same time, the noise of the action, will be increased by the multiplication of sounds, and very injurious to the effect of soft passages. But by my arrangement, as already shown the hammer and key do not fall simultaneously, but the key in advance of the hammer the hammer being eased down by the spring.

Another important advantage of my arrangement over the old one is in the fact that a small obstruction getting under the back end of the key having an action as shown in Fig. l will displace the upper end of the jack from the notch a and throw it out as shown in Fig. l, without the possibility of its rentering the notch until the obstruction is removed, rendering the key utterly useless. Persons experienced in the ways of lpianos know that such obstructions frequently occur, requiring resort to the piano-machinist necessary, to remedy the evil.

In my arrangement, it will be seen, that from the short distance the jack has to pass to take its position in the notch aft-er the key has been struck, the back end of the key need be dropped a very small proportion of its entire movement, in order to place the jack in the position shown by the light line of Fig. 2, and when there it is plain that the stroke of the hammer upon the string can be repeated by a stroke on the key; thus it becomes manifest that very considerable obstructions under the key could not prevent the proper movements of the hammer to produce a note on the string.

1 am aware of the existence of the patent issued to .l ames A. Gray in the month of March 1857, for an action intended to effect a movement of the hammer somewhat similar to that described in my specification above, but l expressly disclaim the use of mechanism like that set forth in his specification, as constituting his claim to make an action such as I produce upon the hammers of a piano forte.

"What claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is l. The formation and position of the butt as described and for the purposes set forth in this specification.

2. I further claim the combination of the butt, spring S and back-check substantially as arranged and for the purposes set fort-h in this specification.

, J. v. MARSHALL.

`Witnesses RoBERT BARUK DE 1WITT, E. J. MILLER. 

